The Monk Savva of
Vishersk was the son of the boyar-noble, Ivan Borozda, from Kashin. From
childhood the monk was noted for his piety. He initially asceticised at the
Tver Savvino wilderness monastery, where the brethren chose him hegumen. In
shunning honours, the Monk Savva went off to Athos, where he toiled over the
copying of Divine-service books. Upon his return from Athos he selected for his
ascetic efforts a solitary place 7 versts from Novgorod at the banks of the
River Vishera. Here, with the blessing of the Novogorod archbishop Simon, the
monk in 1418 organised a small monastery in honour of the Ascension of the
Lord. The Monk Savva set up a pillar nearby the monastery and asceticised upon
it. He died in 1461 at the advanced old age of 80. He appointed as his
successor his disciple Andrei, known for a strict and ascetic life.
The local
commemoration was established under the Novgorod archbishop Jona (+ 1470),
in connection with the healing of the hegumen of the Savvo-Vishersk monastery.
Archbishop Jona thereupon ordered an icon of the monk be written and a canon
composed. The general churchly glorification of the Monk Savva took place at
the Moscow Sobor (Council) of 1549. The service to him was composed by
priest-monk Pakhomii the Serb.